How could I sell my own baby to Dragons' Den star? Fury of poverty-stricken father offered £700 by TV tycoon James Caan

The father of the baby that Dragons’
Den star James Caan tried to buy has condemned the multi-millionaire,
saying: ‘I am not a trader of my children.’

From his village in northern
Pakistan, Noor Daraz Khan said: ‘I know we are very poor but we are not
shameless people . . . I can beg for my children but I cannot even think
to sell them.’

Meanwhile, Caan, 49, attempted to
justify offering 100,000 Pakistani rupees – about £745 – for baby Sara,
who was born in the aftermath of the devastating floods that engulfed
the country.

The entrepreneur admitted the
outburst had been an ‘emotional response’.

'I am not a trader of children': Baby Sara's father Noor Daraz Khan says that his people may be poor, but they are not shameless and said: 'I can beg for my children, but I cannot even think to sell them'

In the footage, due to be screened as a series of reports for ITV's News At Ten, Caan holds the infant and exclaims: 'Oh my god, look at that. She is gorgeous'

Emotional: Caan was handed the newborn baby during a visit to the areas of Pakistan devastated by the recent floods

But the girl’s family remain angry at
his actions. Mr Khan, a 45-year-old farmer, said: ‘I cannot believe
such disrespect to a mother and father to believe you can take one of
their children from them for the payment of money. If this man made our
home with gold I would not sell my daughter to him. I cannot believe
what a man who is a father has tried to do.’

The extraordinary bid was captured on
film by a team from ITV News at Ten that had been accompanying Mr Caan,
who heads a foundation aiming to raise £500,000 to rebuild a community
destroyed by the floods, during a fact-finding visit to four villages
two weeks ago.

In Shahi Bala, Mr Caan, whose
estimated wealth is in excess of £100million, was handed baby Sara, who
he was told was born shortly after the floods hit.

‘Oh my God, look at that . . . she
is gorgeous,’he said, before asking: ‘Where is the mother and father?’
To the astonishment of those watching, Mr Caan then offered to buy the
child, saying he would pay the family 100,000 rupees.

He is then seen asking: 'Where is the mother and father?' before making the disaster-struck family the 'deadly serious' offer of money for the child

'I was taken away with emotion': James Caan, right, and the baby who elicited his extraordinary offer

‘I’m being 100 per cent serious,’ he
continued. ‘My brother lives here and he desperately wants a baby. We
can give this baby the best life she can possibly have.’

The baby’s father was working in the
fields when the offer was made but it was relayed to her 30-year-old
mother Razmeen Begum, who said yesterday she had been stunned,
frightened and confused by the offer.

She said: ‘I would kill myself rather
than sell my daughter.’

Mr Khan said that after the visit by
Mr Caan – who was born Nazim Khan – the family had spent 24 hours
fearing there would be an attempt to take Sara from them.

Defence: James Caan being interviewed on the ITV Lunchtime News this afternoon

Sara’s aunt, Noor Zad Begum, said:
‘The floods could not break our family but the rich foreigner thought he
could do that. He made us cry.

‘The floods can take our crops and
take our homes but no one can buy our children . . . no, no, no.’

Mr Khan said his daughter had taken on a special significance because of what the family had endured in the days before her birth, referring to the floods that devastated the country this summer.They were forced from their home for two weeks before returning to find their village destroyed and their cattle missing.

Mr Khan said: ‘We were given a tent and that very night, amid all the death and destruction, my sister and my mother helped deliver our Sara, thanks be to God.’

Warned of a backlash, the day after the incident, Mr Caan attempted to justify his actions, saying: ‘I was literally at that moment in time so taken away with emotion.’

‘You are in a village where people are dying of malnutrition, where food isn’t getting through.‘If there is an opportunity to give a life a chance of survival it’s more an emotional response than a rational decision.’